Russia should disclose information on Klebnikov murder

July 9, 2010 3:27 PM ET

New York, July 9,
2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Russian authorities to disclose
their progress in the investigation into the unsolved murder of Forbes Russia Editor Paul
Klebnikov, left, who was gunned down outside his Moscow office six years ago
today.

The
case is with the federal Investigative
Committee at the Prosecutor General’s Office, which is responsible for
conducting criminal probes. Petros Garibyan, a senior investigator, told CPJ in
a September
2009 meeting that his agency is cooperating with U.S. investigators in
efforts to bring Klebnikov’s killers to justice. However, he would not disclose
what concrete steps are being taken to advance the investigation. The
Investigative Committee has not reported any progress in the case since.

“We call on Russian investigators to go on the record with
progress they have made over the past year in solving the murder of our colleague
Paul Klebnikov,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. “There has been much hope since
last July’s summit between Presidents Medvedev and Obama—during which the
Klebnikov case was discussed—that real progress will be made in the
investigation. Such progress is sorely needed to rekindle hope that justice is
achievable in Russia,
where a total of 18 journalists have been murdered with impunity
over the last decade.”

The alleged mastermind—Chechen separatist leader
Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, the subject of Klebnikov’s 2003 book Conversation With a Barbarian—has never been
apprehended or prosecuted. Two alleged accomplices were acquitted
in May 2006 following a flawed
and closed trial. In the weeks following the acquittals, as procedural violations
resurfaced, the prosecution appealed
and won the right to retry the case, but by then one of the alleged accomplices
had disappeared.

On July 2, Klebnikov family members told reporters that they
might file a complaint against Russia with the European
Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on charges of failing to attain
justice. “We have tried everything that we can in terms of using the Russian
legal system and we are now seriously discussing taking the case to the
European Court of Human Rights because we are simply not confident that we will
see justice in Russia,” Michael Klebnikov, Paul’sbrother, told Reuters. “There has been no
success and that is appalling, it is damning, and it invites one to suspect
that there are serious conflicts of interest directly linked to the tangled web
of corrupt politicians, corrupt businessmen, and criminals in Russia,” Klebnikov
said.

Ukrainian reporter held by Moscow-backed separatists forced to confess in Russia state TV interview

August 22, 2018 4:33 PM ET

New York, August 22, 2018--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Russian state-run TV channel Rossiya 24's broadcast of an interview with Stanislav Aseyev, a Ukrainian reporter held for more than a year by Russia-backed separatists, in which he falsely confessed to spying for Ukraine. CPJ also reiterates its call...

Killing of 3 Russian investigative journalists in Central African Republic must be probed

August 1, 2018 5:17 PM ET

New York, August 1, 2018--The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Central African Republic, Russia, and the U.N. to investigate the deaths of three Russian journalists killed while on assignment in CAR....

New York, July 3, 2018--The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Russian authorities to refrain from labeling individual bloggers and journalists as foreign agents. The State Duma's information and communication committee today approved legislation that would allow authorities to label private persons as foreign agents if they work...

Imprisoned Russian editor wounded, hospitalized

June 19, 2018 1:54 PM ET

New York, June 19, 2018--Russian authorities should immediately release jailed journalist Aleksandr Valov and ensure that he receives necessary medical care, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The editor-in-chief and founder of local news website BlogSochi, who has been in detention since January on extortion charges, was hospitalized...

Ukraine authorities search Russian news agency, detain director

May 15, 2018 6:11 PM ET

New York, May 15, 2018--The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern over the Ukraine Security Service's (SBU) search of the Kiev office of the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti and detention of the office director, Kirill Vyshynsky....